The launch of the parent-powered platform's latest feature, Local Gems, makes it easier than ever for parents to enjoy and contribute to local guides for kid-friendly activities near them, no matter where they live.
CHICAGO, Oct. 28, 2025 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Upparent began with a vision of the internet at its best. A collaborative and helpful space where parents can easily do online what they naturally do together in real life: share their experiences with kid-friendly places, activities and products to help one another discover something new. With the launch of Local Gems, the parent-powered platform takes a huge step forward toward fulfilling this goal.
"The exciting thing about Local Gems is that it puts the power to create a really awesome, really useful local resource for parents right in the hands of local parents," says Alexandra Fung, Upparent co-founder and CEO, and mother of four. "While plenty of family-focused content is created for parents by traditional media and social media influencers, Upparent has instead created a platform where parents can create this content for each other."
The benefit? Any parent anywhere has the opportunity to share and discover favorite places for families, no matter where they live, breaking down the limitations that exist when parents rely on content creators for these recommendations. For parents looking for things to do with kids in Chicago or Dallas, in the suburbs, or in small towns nowhere near a big city, Upparent makes it easy for neighbors to share their favorite local spots with each other, without having to rely on influencers, brands or businesses choosing to do so.
Local Gems is the latest in a series of user-friendly, interactive features that make it easy for parents to participate in this online community for discovering and sharing family favorites:
- Powerful maps, calendars, sorting and filter options quickly highlight content that is most relevant to each user.
- Dynamic lists of family-friendly places, activities, toys, books, movies, recipes and products continue to improve as users suggest new recommendations, and rate and review existing recommendations.
- Anyone - including kid-friendly businesses - can add family events happening anywhere in the United States to share with the community.
- Users post questions and add polls about family life to gather responses from fellow parents in a friendly and judgment-free zone.
- Businesses supplement the parent voices on Upparent with transparent profiles that allow them to engage on the site, provide photos and information about their family-friendly offerings, and share local events.
With the approaching holidays, Upparent is especially well-suited for helping parents discover festive events and kid-friendly activities near them, including places to volunteer as a family. "Some of my favorite lists on Upparent have always been our lists of volunteer opportunities for kids," says Fung. Most community organizations have age limits for volunteers, but this information is not often easily available online, making it surprisingly difficult to find places where families with young children can volunteer together. This is exactly where Upparent's unique interactive features shine best, as parents who know about these opportunities can easily share them with the wider community. "And, with the launch of Local Gems," adds Fung, "we are no longer limited in where we can share these opportunities, as parents anywhere can now add their favorite places to volunteer with kids, no matter where they live in the United States."
About Upparent
Upparent gathers recommendations from parents about things to do, places to go and products to try as a family. Users share and discover families' favorite toys and gifts, books and movies, vacation ideas, recipes, and local activities around the United States. For more information, visit https://www.upparent.com/learn-more, or follow @upparent on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and Pinterest.
Media Contact
Alexandra Fung, Upparent, 1 312-834-7649, [email protected], https://www.upparent.com/
SOURCE Upparent
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